Towel-holder



Hx C. McDONALD' TOWEL HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 11, 1919.

1,374,595, Patented Apr. 12, 1921 NORRIS PETERS, IVHIL. HTML, WSMlNSTON, D. C.

umrso stares PATENT creme.

nowimn c. MenonALD, or Bernard-NEW YORK.

' 'IOW EL-HOLDERl To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HOWARD C. MC-

vented. 'More particularly this invention relates to devices of thissort in which the towels are secured in a pack or bundle of the requirednumber at the laundry or supply house, so that a pack of soiled towelsmay be removed from the holder or device and replaced by a similar packof fresh towels by the towel supply man expeditiously and with theminimum labor and handing of towels. The towels are preferably securedtogether midway between their ends, thus giving a double supply ofhalf-length individual towels from a given number ofseparate towelswhich reduces the cost of laundrying and handling the towels.

In some devices of this sort now in use the towels have to be carriedfrom the laundry to the holder in a loose condition and there securedtogether and locked in the holder. This method is unsatisfactory" onaccount of the possibilityof error, the misuse, andinjury'of the towels,the additional labor required on the part of the supply man and thepossible annoying discussions between the customer and the towel supplyhouse as to the number of towels supplied. Much time is also lost inthis way'and the towels are often inserted carelessly, which results inan untidy and inconvenient condition of the holder. Other devices,wherein the pack of towels is secured in a clamp or the like at thelaundry, require a lock on the clamp that has to be locked at thelaundry and an additional lock for locking the clamp or pack of towelsin the holder. This adds to. the cost and complicationofthe device.

One object of thisinvention is to produce a practical and desirabletowel holder of this sort which enables the required number of towels tobe secured together at the laundry in a quick and simple manner by meansI of an adjustable clamp of inexpensive con Specification or" Letterslatenti thereof on a .atented Apr. 12, 1921.

Application filed September 11, 1919. Serial No. 323,119.

struction, which can be then quickly and easily locked in place with itscontained towels in the holder. Another object-of thisinvention is to soconstruct this clamp that it may be easily and quickly locked in the Vholder by means of ordinary padlocks which also serve to lock the towelsin the clamp. Another object is to so construct the device that the samelocking devices not only lock the towels in the" clamp and the clamp inplace on the holder, but in addition form connections on which the clampcan be' i turned or inverted'in the stand or holder to facilitate theuse of the towels. r

In the accompanying drawings? Figure 1 is a side elevation of a towelholder embodying the invention and showing the pack of towels firstoneto be used. r 4

. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary similar View thereof, showing the towels whena pertion1 of thefirst half of the" pack has been use r Fig. 3 is asimilar view thereof when one in position for the holder for properlypresenting the secondhalf of the pack of towels for use.,- s Flg. 5 1s atop plan view thereof on an enlarged scale with the parts in theposition:

shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is'a fragmentary sectional eleva tion thereof on'line 6-6, Fig.5, showing the means for locking the towels in the clamp and lockingthe, clamp on the holder, Fig. 7 is a" horizontal sectional view stilllarger scale n'line 7 -7, Fig.6. The towel: holder comprises a 'clam'pin which thetoyvels are secured, preferably midway between their ends,and a stand or support in which theclamp} is mounted so that it can beturned or inverted to facilitate the use of the towels, but so astoprevent the misuse or unauthorized removal of the towels. The stand maybe of any suitable so half ofthe'pack of towels has been used.

construction, but preferably consists of a skeleton metal frame A havingside uprights 10 connected by suitable 'cross'bracesand by a dividingplate 11 for separating the .used

from the unused towels. Each of the uprights 10 is made of a metal barbent tolform a horizontal bottom rail '12 and upwardly converging legs13 between which the dividing plate 11 is secured; and having out wwardly diverging upper portions which are connected by a horizontaltopbar or rest 14:. The clamp for the towels B is preferably of thefollowing construction:

Two clamping bars 15 of equal length and of channel or U-shapedcross-sectionare disposed on opposite sides of the pack of towels withtheir flanges 16 facing and adapted to engage with the outer towels onopposite sides of the pack. The bars 15 are connected and adapted tobeforced toward each other to clamp and securely hold the towels'betweenthem by bolts 17 which pass through holes 18 near the ends of the barsand are engaged by nuts 19 screwed tightly on their threaded ends incontact with the back of one of the bars. The bolt-holes 18 repreferably made square and the bolts 17 have square shank portions whichfit in the square holes and thus hold the bolts from turning whenadjusting the nuts 19. The clamp bars preferably consist of suitablelengths of ordinary commercial metal channel bars. These bars, thoughlight, are rigid enough to prevent undue springing thereof when clampingthem on the pack of towels, and the towels being gripped between theopposite inwardly facing flanges are held so firmly that they cannot beremoved without first loosening the clamp nuts.

The pack of towels is secured in the clamp above described at thelaundry or supply house where the towels are properly counted I to astowels.

The means for securing or. looking the clamp with its contained pack oftowels in the stand are preferably constructed as fol lows: Each o-f thehorizontal rests or top bars 1 1 of the stand A has attached thereto alocking device preferably consisting of an ordinary pad-lock 20,'theU-shaped shackle 21 of which passes through holes 22 in the rest 14' andextends above the top surface thereof. The bars 15 of the clamp are ofsuch length that their opposite ends are adapted to rest on thehorizontal bars or rests 1 1 and the nuts 19 are provided withperforated thumb wings 23 and are located 7 so that each of the upwardlyextending shackles 21 of the locking devices20 is adapted to passthrough one of the perforations of the adjacent nut 19, thus securelylocking the clamp to the stand or holder. Since the lock shackles passthrough the perforations of the thumb nuts, they prevent the nuts frombeingturned on the .clamp appear as shown in Fig. 3.

bolts and therefore prevent the loosening. of the clamp bars and removalof the towels from the clamp. The holes 22 in the horizontal rests 14are disposed so that the shackles 21 of the locks are parallel and d1-towels therein to be swung or turned over from the position shown inFigs. 1 to 3 to the invertedposition, shown by full lines in a and bydotted lines in Figs. 5 and 6. A In the use of the towel holder, theclamp is first placed so. that it occupies a position on the rests 14:in front of the locks with the towels depending therefrom in front, ofthe dividing plate 11, see Figs. 1, 5 and 6. When an individual desiresto use a towel he picks up the towel at the front of the pack and afteruse throws it over to a position where itdepends in rear of the dividingplate 14. .The soiled towels are thus effectively separated and heldfrom contact with the clean ones,see Fig. 2. When half of the towels inthe pack have been used and thrown over as described, the device willIf, however, some of the remaining clean towels were used while theclamp remained as before, these towels, when used and thrown over to therear of the holder, would pile up on or form a thick bunch around theclamp which would interfere with the proper and ready. use of theremaining towels and detract from the neat appearance of the device.When,therefore, one-half of the towels have been used, the clamp isbodily turned or swung over on the lock shackles'to the invertedvposition on thehorizontal restsl l, when the remaining clean towels willbe properlypresented for use, as shown in Fig. 4E, and in this positionthey may be readily thrown over to the rear and hang downwardly, neatlyat the rear of the pack, until they are all used.

A towel holder constructed as described enables the towels to be quicklyand easily secured in a clamp at the laundryand when taken to the standor holder the one operation of locking the clamp in theholder also looksthe towe ls in the clamp and the shackles provide a swivel or turningconnection on which the clamp may swing to properly present all thetowelsfor use. Moreover, the holder is very simple in construction andeconomical to manufacture as the parts of the stand and clamp are allmade from ordinary stock material and the bolts and locking means arestandard commercial articles, so that none of the parts require specialmachine work or other expensive operations to produce and assemble. 7

Iclaim as my invention:

1. A towel holder comprising .a support, a clamp for securing aplurality, of towels diiierent positions on said support, wherebyunauthorized removal of the towels is prevented.

3. A towel holder comprising a. support, a clamp for securing pluralityof towels together, means for locking said clamp on said towels, saidmeans also locking said clamp on said support and forming a connectionpermitting said clamp to move to different positions on said support,whereby unauthorized removal of the towels is prevented.

.41. A towel holder comprising a support, a clamp for securing aplurality'of towels together, a single means which looks said clamp onsaid towels and also locks the clamp on said support, said means alsoforming a connection permitting said clamp to occupy-one position onsaid support while one portion of said pack of towels is in use, and tobe moved to another position on said support while the other portion ofsaid pack of towels is in use.

5. A towel holder comprising a support, a clamp for securing a pluralityof towels together, a locking device having a shackle passing throughapertures in said support and engaging aportion on said clamp, saidshackle lockingthe clamp on said support and also locking the towels insaid clamp and permitting the movement of said clamp from one positionto another on said support. Y

6. A towel holder comprising a support, a clamp for securing a pluralityof towels together and arranged to rest by its opposite ends on saidsupport, locking means on said support which engage said clamp and lockthe towels in said clamp and lock said clamp on said support, saidlocking means also permitting said clamp to rest in diflerent positionson said support.

7. A towel holder comprising a support, a clamp for securing a pluralityof towels together and arranged to rest'by its opposite ends on saidsupport, locks having shackles which pass through apertures in saidsupport I and engage said clamp, whereby said clamp is secured on saidsupport and the towels are locked in the clamp, and said shackles alsoforming connections permitting said clamp to move to different positionson said support.

8. A towel clamp for a plurality of towels having apertured screwdevices for securing the clamp on the towels, locks connected'to saidsupport and having curved shackles passing holder comprising a'support,a l

